# Getting a wineador... need help on storage options!



## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

I have finally decided for sure that I am going the wineador route!!! Pretty damn excited about it.... it sucked feeling guilty about buying more cigars athough my desktop humidor was full. 
I have decided to get the Newair 28 count. At first I was just going to go with the cedar trays that I was finding online, but just could not make the demensions work without wasting a ton of space. That is when I saw "Custom Wineador Creations" which makes customized drawers and shelving for the Newair coolers.
I am unsure of how many of you guys organize your cigars and what lessons you havd learned that work best as far as cigar storage or organization.
Personally, I do not ever see myself buying boxes so does that mean that I need to forgo the shelf option and go with all drawers or does a shelf serve another purpose other than box storage that would prove useful?
Also, I see that they have standard size drawers and also a deep drawer. Personally, I do not think I would like the deep drawer as it seems as if I will have to dig through my stash to see what's buried thus potentially damaging the cigars or at least make access to my bottom sticks a pain in the arse. Is there any benefit of a deep drawer over an extra standard sized drawer?
Are there any other companies that make premade drawers that I need to be aware of? What mistakes have you guys made as far as wineador storage that you would like to pass on to a wineador noob?
Lastly, I really like the drilled holes in the side and back of the drawer walls, but do not feel like paying an extra $70 bucks so I figured I could very much so just drill them myself.... any thoughts about this?


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

Here's my 2 cents after doing a Newair wineador.

First off - Forrest at Wineador Creations did my drawers and I was happy with the work, although some folks have not been. But it was a 3 month wait back then and now I am 4 months and going on an order for a single drawer. He is backed up so be prepared for what may very well be a 6 month wait on drawers. There are a few others that do drawers but I have no experience with them. Most folks (including me) used the cedar trays until the drawers arrive.

I don't typically buy boxes so I did drawers. The standards are double slot drawers (about 3" high) that you can stack cigars 3 or 4 high in the drawer and probably fit around 100 per drawer. If you get a 281 they have twice the slots inside and you can get single slot drawers but I do not have any. Some say they will only hold 1 cigar high but they should be 1.25 - 1.5" high so you may be able to get 2 high. From all I have seen - net result is that it may be a little neater in the box but not as functional for mass storage and they are much more costly to do singles versus doubles.

I originally did 4 double drawers and 2 shelves and now am waiting on a 5th double drawer. I took the 2 shelves and fashioned 1" cedar around the edges to make them into single drawers so when I am done I'll have 5 doubles and 2 singles.

I think the deep drawer you are talking about is the false front on the front of the drawer. This is used for the bottom drawer only. It is a standard sized double drawer but the front extends down to cover the excess space between the bottom of the bottom drawer and the bottom of the wineador. It covers the space below the bottom drawer that most folks use for fans or beads.

As far as digging down - yes that will happen. I try to keep things stored together (5 packs or more) so that you can always take from the top but there will always be organizing and cigar tetris that you will have to do to keep rotating and "finding" extra space for sticks because you will fill it.

If I had to do it again I would not order the drawers. They look nice and the wife insisted on it looking nice, but given the cost and time they wouldn't be worth it to me. I would order the 281 with the 12 slots and then look to have someone local build drawers or do it myself. I use Gym_Bob_in_Maine on beebay for spanish cedar - great guy. I'd buy what I needed to build them and do it. Basically it's gluing some planks together (with slots for air movement) to make a shelf and adding perimeter walls to hold the cigars from falling off, and adding a drawer pull to the front. You can also cut and add dividers if you want. I'd do 1 or 2 deeper ones and the rest singles. Wouldn't be quite as pretty but would be faster, cheaper and more functional.

Just my 2 cents and I realize some of this won't make sense to you unless you are looking at it but this is all I have time for at the moment. Any questions or anything else I can help with - just ask. 

Based on your posts I don't imagine you are the type of guy who is going to be excited waiting 4-6 months for drawers, lol. The other option is to buy one of the ones that come with drawers already in them, but that is a 2 drawer / 4 shelf configuration that it doesn't sound like you would be happy with either.
Best of luck.


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

My worthless 2 pennies.

NewAir- Good choice

Drawers/Shelves/Something else- If you buy mostly boxes shelves, if you buy more singles/5ers drawers. If you are handy use Tony's guy in Maine for wood, if your want to buy drawers skip Custom Wineador Creations and contact John Nelson at [email protected]. From what I have seen his quality is better than CWC and he will be honest with you about your wait time and will communicate with you frequently.

There are actually 3-sized drawers single depth (IMO while attractive this is a waste of space), multiple depth (actual stack size will depend on your cigar size) and the bottom drawer Tony mentioned

Holes are overkill and with proper drawer sizing there will be plenty of air circulation. If you decide you must have them, which again you don't, I would have John drill them that way if he screws up the drawer he will redo it. Drilling through SC causes a lot of splintering and cracking and if you are not handy they could end up looking like kaka.


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## Aithos (Jul 13, 2014)

A couple thoughts:

1) Go with the drawers that are 3-1/4" tall that you can stack 3 deep. That's the "double" size that most people consider standard as they fit roughly the same space as the shelves did, if you get the "single" you can have twice as many but you end up with a lot less effective space because you have a lot more wood in there and you will only get 1 per drawer deep. 

2) I highly recommend talking with John Nelson as MDSPHOTO linked his email. I was going to go with Forrest (who was very nice and did respond to me quickly when I emailed) but I didn't want to wait 6 months and was afraid I'd end up getting drawers made by one of his helpers and not him. I wanted some custom options that aren't usually offered on these types of drawers and John was willing to work with me on that. He emailed me back within a day every time and was incredibly friendly and detail oriented throughout the process while we went back and forth. I started talking to him around Thanksgiving and my set should be done in Feb (I was on the wait list for January). He sends out status emails and is all around very reasonable.

3) Don't waste your time finding a local person to make your drawers. You won't find anyone to do it for a reasonable price, both Forrest and John do these drawers for considerably less than any local shop. I looked into it myself because I thought "a local shop has to be cheaper" and was shocked at the prices I was being quoted. The wood for these alone is quite expensive, my uncle worked me up a cost on these and the materials alone will be close to what these guys are charging. Not to mention, anyone local won't have dimensions or experience doing it so they will need your unit on hand and have to do all the work themselves and that takes time and therefore costs you more.

I would skip the holes too, that doesn't seem to do anything at all....


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## rbelcastro (Sep 19, 2013)

The advice you received is very solid. I bought the same wineador as you a couple monts ago. I went with the 4 drawers and a 2 shelves. I need the shelf because in the winter I need an active humidification system and the other to store an occasional box. I had a different guy construct my drawers. It was GW Humidors. My order was completed in like 2 weeks and I couldn't be happier. He did a great job, was quick and easy to work with. Good luck with your new purchase! I have no doubt you will not only enjoy it but fill it up quickly!


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## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

Awesome recommendations from both of you guys!!! I am thinking that I should go with standard drawers with 2 single slot drawers. Let me know if my logic makes sense here....... I would dedicate my standard drawers for my normal smokes ($13 and under) and reserve my single slot drawers for my more expensive and/or my favorite smokes such as my Davidoffs, Anejos, Opus X, Illusiones etc just to give you an idea. What do you guys think of this?
I could be wrong, but it seems as if judging from the pictures that I have seen the Newair 28 will hold 5 standard drawers so I should be able to fit 4 standard and 2 single slot for a total of 6 drawers.... am I correct?
Also, I am a bit confused about the Heartfelt beads as it seems as if nobody uses the Bovedas for their wineadors. Do you guys put ALL of the humidification medium on the very bottom floor of the cooler? Or do you guys put a little bit on each shelf/drawer? If all of it goes on the bottom then I can see how that might get a bit unsightly and this is where my question for the "false bottom" drawer comes in. As far as the false bottom goes if I am understanding correctly..... it is an extra deep drawer, but only the top half is actually functional as the bottom half is separated and left unused to leave room for the humidification medium. Is this correct?
I just want to make sure that I understand how the drawers work. Does the drawers actually glide and sit on the factory metal rack/shelf that comes with the wine cooler or are the metal shelves/rack taken out completely and the drawers slide in the plastic grooves/slots that is on the sides of the wine cooler?


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

[URL=http://s40.photobucket.com/user/tsmrek1/media/IMG_20140713_240233_884_zps2ae7ebd6.jpg.html]

Maybe this will help. Here's an old picture of mine. It is a Newair 281 - the 281 has 12 slots on the sides where the 280 only has 6 (basically every other slot in this picture). See the way the shelves fit into the slots - this is the same for the drawers, the drawer bottom extends out on the sides to slide into the slots. See the bottom slot - that's where the bottom of that drawer is and the false front covers the rest of the space. These are the double height drawers and both the 280 or 281 will handle 6 of these. If you want to do the single height drawers you will need to buy the 281 or you will waste the space. Racks come out totally and are not used.
As far as beads / Boveda - I have most of my beads in the bottom, but do have some tubes in each drawer to spread them around. I also use Bovedas - especially in the winter as the rh% in my house is in the 'teens in the cold NY winter - and I spread those between the drawers as well. Depends on your climate and such as to what you will need to do. 
Hope this helps.


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## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

That helps a ton! All of you guys have given me solid advice and I will probably have more questions once I actually get the winedor on my front steps and get down to the nitty gritty of actually ordering the drawers. I personally think I would like mostly standard drawers with one or two smaller ones. If I have one of my patients (I have two that make custom kitchen cabinets for a living) they would be able to make custom slots, dividers, compartments etc for me but would probably cost more. I am curious as to if there is any advantage of having solid cedar vs cedar lined?


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## rbelcastro (Sep 19, 2013)

You want solid Spanish Cedar.


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## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

I am thinking the only downfall of solid SE is that it will take much longer for the wood to absorb it's maximum humidity. Other than that its all good? Will having 7 plus drawers of Spanish cedar cause the smell to overwhelm the cigars..... I am sure it will not, but that's A LOT of cedar and just wanted to make sure!


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## ProjectSunfire (Mar 30, 2011)

I have Newair 280 with 5 drawers and 1 shelf from Forrest and 3 pounds of HF 65% beads. Nothing but happy with the drawers. I have limited to non-existent wood making skills so purchasing the drawers was my only option. I buy a mix of singles, 5 packs and boxes. That setup has worked out very well. Full capacity is approx. 400 sticks. Which I thought would be more than enough. WRONG. I also have a 48 quart coolidor that is fuller than anticipated at the moment. I am planning on adding a 2nd wineador shortly. ah...this slippery slope.

Th only issue I have had in almost a year with the wineador is a recent humidity spike that I attribute mostly to living in Florida and partly to ignorance lol


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## Aithos (Jul 13, 2014)

I am going to put kitty litter in mine, I might get a couple heartfelt small tubes for the drawers because I'm lazy and don't want to make anything but otherwise I don't see a reason to spend more. It would take way too many Boveda packs for me to want to mess with that even though they have been great for the tupperware!


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## rbelcastro (Sep 19, 2013)

There are a plethora of reasons to go with Spanish Cedar. It hold humidity better, the wood is good at retarding critters(beetles). The smell does not affect cigars. Here is mine:


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Elonheater said:


> and I will probably have more questions once I actually get the winedor on my front steps and get down to the nitty gritty


Is this even humanly possible? :boink:

You have reached the point of overthinking it. Everything you are considerig has been done a hundred times before you and everyone comes to the same conclusions. Buy drawers, make drawes yourself or put some type of tray in there.

Relax your mind.


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## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

@MDSPHOTO Hate to say it, but it is totally possible that I will have more questions although I will try to practice restraint. I am the kind of guy that wants to explore a lot of alternatives and get feedback before making a final decision. I have never dealt with HF beads so I might have a couple questions about that, but for the most part I think that I got it. One thing that I HATE about my humidor is that there is an enormous amount of wasted space. If I lay a robusto on the bottom shelf of my humidor I have a good 3 inches wasted. What I had to do in order to fit a sensible amount of cigars in my humidor was to turn my smaller sticks such as my Hemingway Work of Art and La Aurora Preferidos sideways and cram it into the 3 inch gap which looks ghetto and I hate. 
Is there a thread where people took pictures of the inside of their drawers to see how others organized their sticks, if they made special dividers or compartments etc? If not, then I might see if I can get one started prior to having my drawers made.


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## ProjectSunfire (Mar 30, 2011)

Elonheater said:


> @MDSPHOTO Hate to say it, but it is totally possible that I will have more questions although I will try to practice restraint. I am the kind of guy that wants to explore a lot of alternatives and get feedback before making a final decision. I have never dealt with HF beads so I might have a couple questions about that, but for the most part I think that I got it. One thing that I HATE about my humidor is that there is an enormous amount of wasted space. If I lay a robusto on the bottom shelf of my humidor I have a good 3 inches wasted. What I had to do in order to fit a sensible amount of cigars in my humidor was to turn my smaller sticks such as my Hemingway Work of Art and La Aurora Preferidos sideways and cram it into the 3 inch gap which looks ghetto and I hate.
> Is there a thread where people took pictures of the inside of their drawers to see how others organized their sticks, if they made special dividers or compartments etc? If not, then I might see if I can get one started prior to having my drawers made.


I can take some pics of mine this weekend to show you how I organized each drawer. I am beyond capacity so have to be creative. Currently, I have around 400 in the wineador. Its basically a game of tetris. I think the drawers are great if you buy mostly singles or fivers. But i have recently started buying a lot of boxes so I had to bring the coolidor back into service. no room for full boxes


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Elonheater said:


> @MDSPHOTO Hate to say it, but it is totally possible that I will have more questions although I will try to practice restraint. I am the kind of guy that wants to explore a lot of alternatives and get feedback before making a final decision. I have never dealt with HF beads so I might have a couple questions about that, but for the most part I think that I got it. One thing that I HATE about my humidor is that there is an enormous amount of wasted space. If I lay a robusto on the bottom shelf of my humidor I have a good 3 inches wasted. What I had to do in order to fit a sensible amount of cigars in my humidor was to turn my smaller sticks such as my Hemingway Work of Art and La Aurora Preferidos sideways and cram it into the 3 inch gap which looks ghetto and I hate.
> Is there a thread where people took pictures of the inside of their drawers to see how others organized their sticks, if they made special dividers or compartments etc? If not, then I might see if I can get one started prior to having my drawers made.


Search wineadors on Google and you will see tons of drawer images. And BTW, you have exceeded the allowed number of questions per member/per day.


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## Kookla (Dec 23, 2014)

I have one ...question that is 

Been seeing a lot of people talking about the wineadors and it seem like a great idea and very esthetically pleasing. Will definately consider this option. I don’t buy boxes and don’t really see myself doing that, so logically i should go for drawers. However, i do love the look of cigar boxes and could get a bunch of empties from my local B&M. With that in mind, would it be safe to just get shelves and use boxes for containers to keep cigars in? If yes, should i keep them open or it’s OK to close and stack?

Thanks!!


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

Kookla said:


> I have one ...question that is
> 
> Been seeing a lot of people talking about the wineadors and it seem like a great idea and very esthetically pleasing. Will definately consider this option. I don't buy boxes and don't really see myself doing that, so logically i should go for drawers. However, i do love the look of cigar boxes and could get a bunch of empties from my local B&M. With that in mind, would it be safe to just get shelves and use boxes for containers to keep cigars in? If yes, should i keep them open or it's OK to close and stack?
> 
> Thanks!!


Sure - some people just store boxes in the wineador and may have a separate humi they work off of for singles and sticks they plan to smoke soon.
As to open or closed - I would say that is your choice.
As to shelves - you can order or I have seen some where folks just cut spanish cedar planks to fit the width of the wineador and slid them in to create a shelf - perhaps with some gaps between the wood for air flow.


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## ProjectSunfire (Mar 30, 2011)

MDSPHOTO said:


> Search wineadors on Google and you will see tons of drawer images. And BTW, you have exceeded the allowed number of questions per member/per day.


:razz:


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## Elonheater (Nov 6, 2014)

@MDSPHOTO, another question....... just joking, but in all seriousness I emailed [email protected] per your recommendation this morning and it came back undeliverable. I tried again and it is coming back as incorrect address. I wanted to post this here instead of sending you a personal message that way in case others were interested in retaining his services they would have the correct contact for him as well. I tried to Google Johnswoodworks and got 8 different companies. Let me know his website or his correct e-mail address if you have a different one. Thanks a ton.


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Elonheater said:


> @MDSPHOTO, another question....... just joking, but in all seriousness I emailed [email protected] per your recommendation this morning and it came back undeliverable. I tried again and it is coming back as incorrect address. I wanted to post this here instead of sending you a personal message that way in case others were interested in retaining his services they would have the correct contact for him as well. I tried to Google Johnswoodworks and got 8 different companies. Let me know his website or his correct e-mail address if you have a different one. Thanks a ton.


That ain't good, try this.

[email protected]


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

MDSPHOTO said:


> That ain't good, try this.
> 
> [email protected]


Come on David - the guys asks one question.......... oke:


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